Substance use recovery · St. Louis
Substance Use Recovery
Valor Medica connects veterans and neighbors in St. Louis to medically supervised detox, medication-assisted treatment and therapy through partner programs, then coordinates the medical care around them and stays involved after the acute phase ends.
Treated as a medical condition, coordinated with everything else, and never a reason to be turned away from care.
What substance use treatment is available?
Through established partner treatment programs, and coordinated by us:
- Medically supervised detoxification
- Medication-assisted treatment
- Individual and group therapy, inpatient and outpatient
- Ongoing recovery support after the acute phase ends — which is when most programs stop and most relapses happen
- Coordination with VA substance use services for eligible veterans
Our position on opioids
This has to be said plainly, because the field is full of programs that say the opposite in careful language. Our clinical leadership’s practice is built on reducing opioid burden. We do not market to opioid-seeking intent, and we are not a source of continuing supply. If you are on a high dose and want off it, that is work we understand and support. If you are looking for a prescriber who will simply continue it, we are not that.
Can I get medical care if I am still using?
People with active substance use are routinely excluded from medical care, from housing, and from the programs designed to help them — and then the exclusion is cited as evidence they were not serious. Active use does not disqualify you from being assessed and treated here.
The metabolic piece
The same inflammatory and reward mechanisms that drive substance use also drive chronic pain, obesity and depression. Treating one while ignoring the others is how people cycle. See chronic pain and metabolic care.
Where treatment actually happens
Valor Medica does not operate an inpatient detox or residential treatment facility. Those services are delivered by partner programs; our role is assessment, referral, medical coordination and follow-through. Being clear about that is how you avoid sending someone somewhere that cannot take them.
Think this might be for you?
You do not need a referral and you do not need to prove anything first. Tell us what is happening and we will be honest about whether we can help.
What we do and where the boundary sits
Substance use is treated as a health condition and not as a disqualification from care. Somebody who is using is still entitled to have a wound dressed, their blood pressure checked and their pain assessed. Making abstinence a precondition of treatment simply removes the person from care entirely.
Where somebody wants treatment for the substance use itself, we connect them to it and stay involved through the handover rather than issuing a phone number. Where somebody does not want that yet, the medical relationship continues anyway.
Can I get naloxone here?
Naloxone and training in how to use it are provided to anyone who wants them, including to people who do not use themselves but are around others who do. Reversal most often happens through a bystander rather than a professional, which is why distribution is deliberately broad.
Pain and substance use together
People with a substance use history are among the most consistently undertreated for pain, on the assumption that any report is drug-seeking. That assumption produces exactly the outcome it fears: untreated pain is one of the more reliable routes back to using. Pain here is assessed and treated on the same basis as for anyone else.
Frequently asked questions
Does Valor Medica run a detox center?
No. Valor Medica does not operate an inpatient detox or residential treatment facility. Medically supervised detox, medication-assisted treatment and inpatient or outpatient therapy are delivered by established partner programs. Our role is assessment, referral, medical coordination and follow-through, so nobody is sent somewhere that cannot take them.
What happens after detox?
Recovery support continues after the acute phase ends, which is when most programs stop and most relapses happen. We stay involved through the handover rather than issuing a phone number. If you do not want treatment for the substance use yet, the medical relationship continues anyway.
Will my pain be treated if I have a substance use history?
Yes. Pain here is assessed and treated on the same basis as for anyone else. People with a substance use history are often undertreated for pain on the assumption that any report is drug-seeking, and untreated pain is one of the more reliable routes back to using.
Can veterans use VA substance use services?
Yes. For eligible veterans we coordinate with VA substance use services rather than duplicating them. We handle the medical care around treatment, stay involved through each handover, and keep your care connected so a referral actually turns into treatment you can reach.